[13] For statute provisions of state governments, see _Twenty-second Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor, Labor Laws of the United States_, pp. 129, sec. 4165; 133-135, secs. 6345-6856; 146-147, secs. 3695-3696, 3905, 4057; 153, secs. 5357-58, 5383; 155-56; acts of 1901, no. 101, secs. 1-3; acts of 1905, no. 49, secs. 1-3; 157-59, act no. 219, sec. 1; act no. 225, secs. 7-18; 278, secs. 2530, 2641-42; 281, sec. 3233-34; 291, sec. 4732; 495-501, secs. 1350, 2722-2739A; 706, sec. 2139; 1228-29, secs. 2717-2720; 1231-32, secs. 338, 358; 1251-52, secs. 3794, 4339-42; 1339-40, sec. 3657D. _Vide_ also, _Digest and Summaries of Certain Classes of Laws Affecting Labor_,--_Mechanics' Liens_, pp. 37-38, 43, 44, 49, 50, 55, 61-62, 70-72, 74. [14] The laws referred to are framed in terms of the regulation of contracts of employment, violation of contract, and contracts of employment with intent to defraud. Breach of contract in either set of cases is usually a misdemeanor (criminal act instead of a civil tort) with a penalty of fines (or imprisonment in Florida). Often in practical operation, they place the tenant and farm laborer at the discretion or mercy of the landlord. The writer has made repeated visits to many rural communities in Ala., Ga., Fla., Miss., and La., and has observed how these legislative measures serve as barriers to thrift among the landless Negro farmers. A number of the youths have expressed their conviction that since their fathers and mothers have accumulated nothing after years of labor on the land, they do not intend to stay on the plantation to repeat the process. For provisions of statutes: See Commissioner of Labor, _op. cit._, pp. 133-34, secs. 6845-46; 147, sec. 5030; 284, chaps. 703-704, secs. 1146-1148. [15] _Economic Analysis of American Prejudice_, by Dr. Wm. L. Bulkley, in _The Colored American Magazine_, July, 1909, pp. 17, 19. 20-21. [16] _Cf. Darkest America_, by Kelly Miller in _New England Magazine_, April, 1904. [17] _Vide_ Hoffman, _The General Death Rate of Large American Cities_, 1871-1904, in _Quarterly Publications of the American Statistical Association_, new series, vol. x, no. 73, March, 1906. Mr. Hoffman says: "While the general death-rate is of very limited value for the purpose of comparison in the case of different localities, it is, I am satisfied, after a very careful investigation and much experience, of quite considerable value in making local comparison of the present health conditions with the past." [18] _Op. cit._, pp. 5-8. The cities are Baltimore, 1871-1904; New Orleans, 1871-1904; District of Columbia, 1876-1904; Louisville, Ky., 1890-1904; Memphis, Tenn., 1876-1904. [19] _Op. cit._, pp. 7-8. (Italics are mine.)